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Terms to Know About Hospice Services

Hospice care offers physical, emotional and spiritual support for people suffering from a terminal illness. Hospice care is often completed in a patient’s home. Hospice care providers are specially trained healthcare professionals with education, experience and caring hearts. Hospice care is often offered to cancer patients and more. Here are some terms to know about hospice and home care.

Palliative Care – Palliative care is a specialized treatment which focuses on relieving the pain of patients suffering throughout an illness. For example, some medications administered by nurses relieve only the symptoms of a sickness but do not cure the disease itself which makes them palliative.

Inpatient – Inpatient care refers to when a patient must stay in a hospital or facility.

Living Will – A living will is a legal and medical document that contains a patients preferences in the case that a patient becomes too ill to make decisions. A living will usually indicates a relative or spouse who will make decisions in the case that a patient’s terminal illness leaves them unable to make decisions about their health.

Respite – Respite care is temporary care that can be provided by a nurse or other professional. In many cases respite is provided for family members who need a short relief from caring for a loved one suffering from cancer or another terminal disease.

Bereavement – Bereavement is a specialized care and counseling service that assists friends and family members handle grief after the death of a loved one from terminal illnesses, cancer or other disease.

Medicare – Medicare is a federal insurance program set up by government to assist the elderly and ill pay hospital bills.

Some hospitals and other medical facilities offer hospice services for patients who need help managing terminal illnesses. The types of hospice services offered by a hospital can vary significantly, so it makes sense for families to learn about the palliative health care options that each medical facility can provide.
Many hospice centers provide home health care for terminally ill patients. These programs either pay for nurses to visit the patient's home or recruit volunteers to provide end of life services. This can include long term or short term care, largely depending on what sickness the patient has. Someone struggling with incurable cancer might find that they only have a short amount of time left to live. Those with other conditions, could have many months or years left before death. Hospice programs often provide long term patients with services that help prevent pain, improve general health, and prevent emergency situations.
Some insurance companies pay for sick patients to visit medical centers for hospice care, but they might not pay for home services. This varies from provider to provider, so be sure to check with your specific company to determine what options are best for you. You can learn more about the clinics, hospitals, and rest centers that provide hospice services in your area by searching the internet for their websites. You can also visit chat rooms where individuals discuss their experiences with the health care centers in your region. This provides information from the patients' perspective, which will help you understand the types of treatments that hospice centers offer.